Microsoft says 73% of workers surveyed want flexible remote work options to continue while at the same time remote job postings on LinkedIn increased more than 5 time, a trend business owners must not ignore especially as the next phase of work unfolds
Microsoft Corp. has announced recently seven hybrid work trends every business leader needs to know as the world enters a new era of flexible work.
This is according to findings from its first-annual Work Trend Index entitled “The Next Great Disruption is Hybrid Work – Are We Ready?”
Speaking on the exclusive reports, Microsodt CEO, Satya Nadella said over the past year, no area has
undergone more rapid transformation
than the way we work.
“Employee expectations are changing, and we will
need to define productivity much more
broadly — inclusive of collaboration,
learning, and wellbeing to drive career
advancement for every worker, including
frontline and knowledge workers, as well
as for new graduates and those who are
in the workforce today. All this needs to
be done with flexibility in when, where,
and how people work,” Nadella said.
IT News Nigeria gathered, according to the report, that business leaders should resist the urge to see hybrid work as business as usual. It will require the rethinking of long-held assumptions.
The findings suggest that this last year has fundamentally changed the nature of work:
• Collaboration trends in Microsoft Teams and Outlook suggest our networks have contracted but hybrid work will revive them.
• Time spent in meetings has more than doubled globally and over 40 billion more emails were delivered in the month of February of this year compared to last.
• Work has become more human. Nearly 40% say they feel more comfortable bringing their full selves to work than before the pandemic and one in six have cried with a colleague this year.
It also shows that we are on the cusp of a workplace disruption:
• 73 percent of workers surveyed want flexible remote work options to continue.
• Remote job postings on LinkedIn increased more than 5X during the pandemic.
• Over 40% of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer this year and 46% are planning to move now that they can work remotely.
In short, addressing flexible work will impact who stays, who goes, and who joins a company.
To help organizations through the transition, the 2021 Work Trend Index outlines findings from a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries and analyses trillions of aggregate productivity and labor signals across Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn. It also includes perspectives from experts who have studied collaboration, social capital, and space design at work for decades.
What Microsoft work trends revealed
The report uncovers seven hybrid work trends every business leader needs to know as we enter this new era of work:
• Flexible work is here to stay
• Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call
• High productivity is masking an exhausted workforce
• Gen Z is at risk and will need to be re-energized
• Shrinking networks are endangering innovation
• Authenticity will spur productivity and wellbeing
• Talent is everywhere in a hybrid work world
In addition to uncovering what’s at stake with the future of work, the Work Trend Index identifies five strategies for business leaders as they begin to make the necessary shift:
• Create a plan to empower people for extreme flexibility
• Invest in space and technology to bridge the physical and digital worlds
• Combat digital exhaustion from the top
• Prioritize rebuilding social capital and culture
• Rethink employee experience to compete for the best and most diverse talent
“During this pandemic we’ve observed a swift acceleration of certain pre-COVID trends. But perhaps one of the most exciting trends is this rise in remote work. As opportunity is democratized with remote work and talent movement, we’ll see a spread of skills across the country and this is the time for business leaders to take the opportunity to access to different skills and talent not previously available to them.” – Karin Kimbrough, Chief Economist, LinkedIn
